Do you read the list of ingredients in foods and drinks before you buy them at the grocery store? If you do, you may have noticed that many of the items, especially colored drinks, contain dyes with names such as FD&C Blue 1, Red 40, or Yellow 5. But how much dye is needed to create all these colors? In this chemistry science project, you will build a simple spectrophotometer that is able to measure the concentration of colored chemicals in solutions. You will test your device by measuring…
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Chem_p075

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Time Required

Long (2-4 weeks)

Prerequisites

Some knowledge of basic chemistry, as well as familiarity with electronics, would be helpful, but is not required.

Material Availability

For your convenience a kit is available for this project from the . Time required includes shipping for the kit. For data analysis, a spreadsheet program, such as Google SheetsTM or Microsoft® Excel® is helpful.

The clothes you wear are made of fibers that come from many different sources. Some fabrics are made from natural fibers, and some from manufactured or totally synthetic fibers. In this science fair project, you will explore how different fiber types react with dye.
Are you dye-ing to find out which works best?
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Chem_p019

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

Specialty items: fiber-reactive dye and soda ash are necessary. See the Materials and Equipment list for more details.

Cost

Low ($20 - $50)

Safety

Safety goggles and rubber gloves are needed for some steps. See the Procedure for more details. Additionally, items that come in contact with soda ash should not be used with food afterward. See the Materials for more details.

Did you know that sunlight can actually be separated into the colors of the rainbow? And the light of different colors can be added together to make white light or new colors. This is an area of study where art and science overlap. In this science fair project, you will explore this area by drawing or painting "pie slices" onto a white circle and then combining them to make a new color by spinning the wheel using an electric drill.
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Phys_p076

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Time Required

Very Short (≤ 1 day)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

You will need a cordless electric drill and a sanding disk for this science fair project.

Cost

Average ($50 - $100)

Safety

Adult supervision is required, particularly to help with the power tools. Always wear safety goggles when working with power tools.

Everything on our planet is connected together, linked by a giant recycling system called the biogeochemical cycle. It is an amazing process. You can actually investigate how our planet recycles and reuses everything needed to support life by making a small model of the biosphere. What will be important to include in your miniature system so that it can support different types of life?
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Geo_p038

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Time Required

Very Long (1+ months)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

You will need access to a muddy stream, lake, pond, or march in order to collect mud.

Cost

Low ($20 - $50)

Safety

Always wash your hands with warm water and soap after handling soil that may contain microorganisms. Use caution if you use a knife. Adult assistance may be needed.

Is that right side of your brain yearning to express its artistic side? This is a project that beautifully blends art with science. Learn about light and colorful shadows in these experiments where you mix and match various colors of light to create a mini light show and shadow wall. You might be surprised at the colorful hues you'll find lurking in the shadows.
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Have you ever wondered how your clothes get their color? Dyeing textiles is a very complicated process and involves a lot of chemistry. Not only are the properties of the dye and fabric important, but the dyeing conditions also have to be exactly right to get optimal color adsorption. Curious about how it works? In this science project, you will color wool with Kool-Aid® and explore the chemistry of dyeing.
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Chem_p106

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

Knowledge of basic chemistry is helpful as well as a good understanding of mathematical operations such as algebra and simple linear regression.

Material Availability

This project requires special electronic parts. A kit is available at the . Estimated time required includes time for shipping the kit. For data analysis, a spreadsheet program, such as Google SheetsTM or Microsoft® Excel®, is helpful.

Cost

High ($100 - $150)

Safety

This project requires working with boiling water. Make sure to take precautions to prevent burns from the hot liquid.

Have you ever looked at sunlight through a prism? If so, you know that the prism can separate the sunlight into many different colors of light — a rainbow. Like sunlight, chemical mixtures can also be broken into their component parts. One way of doing this is a simple technique called paper chromatography. What do you think you will see if you use paper chromatography to look at the components of black ink? Is black ink just black? Find out for yourself!
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The rates of some chemical reactions can actually be increased by adding light. Light sometimes interacts with one or more of the chemicals and provides an "energy boost" that dramatically speeds up a normally slow reaction. In this photochemistry science project, you will experiment with the effect of light on a chemical reaction. The reaction converts iodine, which forms a dark-orange solution, to iodide, which is colorless!
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Chem_p095

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

An introductory chemistry class.

Material Availability

You will need basic lab equipment, which can be ordered online. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.

Cost

Average ($50 - $100)

Safety

Gloves and safety goggles are required. Oxalic acid is toxic and an irritant. Avoid breathing oxalic acid dust and avoid contact with skin. Ammonia is an irritant. Iodine is also an irritant and stains clothes and skin. Adult supervision is required.

Which type of orange juice has the most vitamin C? In this science project, you will learn how to measure the amount of vitamin C in a solution using an iodine titration method. You will compare the amount of vitamin C in three different types of orange juice: homemade, premium not-from-concentrate, and orange juice made from frozen concentrate. Which do you think will have the most vitamin C?
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Chem_p044

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Time Required

Average (6-10 days)

Prerequisites

Material Availability

Titration equipment and supplies are needed. A kit is available from the . See the Materials tab for details.

Cost

High ($100 - $150)

Safety

Adult supervision required. Concentrated iodine is poisonous if swallowed. Read and follow all safety guidelines in the Procedure. More information is available from the iodine .

Pennies are bright and shiny when they are new, but become quite dull with time. What causes such a drastic change? Oxygen in the air combines with the copper in the penny to form copper oxide, which makes the penny look dull and dingy. You can make the pennies look like new again by soaking them in water that is corrosive enough to strip off the copper oxide layer. It turns out, however, that the same process that makes the pennies shiny has bad consequences when it comes to copper pipes: it…
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Chem_p090

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Time Required

Short (2-5 days)

Prerequisites

None

Material Availability

A copper test kit and other specialty supplies needed for this project are available through the .

You can find this page online at: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/search.shtml?v=solt&pi=Chem_p084

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